Juno Recommends Ambient / Drone Best of 2018

Review: In line with the timely reappraisal of all things R&S related, the resurgent Apollo have seen the opportunity to bring one of their most celebrated records back for another round. Aphex Twin's ambient recordings mature magnificently with age, sounding ever richer and more emotive as the rest of electronic music continues to play catch up all around. From the gentle breakbeats of "Xtal" to the aquatic techno lure of "Tha", the airy rave of "Pulsewidth" to the heartwrenching composition of "Ageispolis", every track is a perennial example of how far ambient techno could reach even back then. It's just that no-one quite had the arm-span of Richard D. James.

Review: Having distinguished themselves with a series of superb retrospective releases highlighting the work of Leon Lowman, Gigi Masin and Joan Biblioni, Amsterdam label Music From Memory deviate from the path somewhat with his long overdue Gaussian Curve album. Ask yourself what would happen when a elderly Venetian who specialises in sublime ambient music spends a weekend holed up in a Redlight district studio with two of his biggest, most musically gifted fans. The superb Clouds is the answer, with 'Young' Marco Sterk and Jonny Nash following Masin's lead on an eight track exercise in sumptuous, calming composition. The wait has truly been worth it.

Review: REPRESS ALERT: Lury Lech is a transdisciplinary artist of Ukrainian origin part of the few pioneers in the Spanish electronic and digital audio-visual scene that began to develop during the 80's.

His open and unclassifiable style made of eerie sonic atmospheres, arrhythmic structures and dense textures create hypnotic ambiance and a new way to conceive experimentalism.

Wrongly described as New Age music at that time, "Musica para el fin de los cantos" is a stunning and deeply emotive ambient work, that stares down at the eternal enigma, giving a glimpse of Iury Lech's classical music of the future.
Iury recorded this blissful masterpiece in his Barcelona's studio in 1989. It was then published in 1990 by the unique Spanish label Hyades Arts.

It's 2017 and it's time to unearth this magical piece of vibrating chords to please your sensitive yet hungry ears. Sit back and enjoy the meditative state.

Review: Horishi Yoshimura was something of a pioneer of Japanese electronic music, particularly ambient. He came to create his first masterpiece, 1982 debut album Music For Nine Postcards, following a near 10-year spell exploring the early potential of computer music. The album has long been considered a "must-have" for ambient collectors, despite high second-hand prices and very limited stock. Thrillingly, Empire of Signs has decided to reissue it on vinyl for the first time. Entirely performed and produced by Yoshimura, it features a series of impeccable compositions rich in slowly unfurling electric piano motifs, spacey synthesizer chords, delicate organ lines and, on rare occasions, the musician's own voice routed through all manner of outboard effects. Simply stunning.

Review: Cocktail D'Amore showed the breadth of their tastes when they reissued Ukranian composer Iury Lech's 1990 album Musica Para El Fin De Los Cantos last year. Now the label has commissioned a raft of remixes from some label regulars, with wonderful and diverse results. Powder drops her signature snaking rhythmic trysts over "Barreras", while "Cuando Rocio Dispara Sus Flechas" benefits from an abstract, ambient reworking from Suzanne Kraft. Hatchback takes to "Posmeridiano" with a delicate touch, all lingering 80s synth motifs in a beatless reverie, and Zavoloka lays the cinematic intensity on heavy with the icy strains of "Ukraina".

Review: 34 years after Hiroshi wrote these seven startling compositions for a Tokyo fashion show, they are finally given the vinyl status they've always deserved. Previously only available on cassette, Pier & Loft has become a cult body of work for all ambient fans. Driven, melodic and laced with a sense of energy that the genre often misses. Sci-fi chamber music, if you will, the playful counterpoint between the keys on the brilliantly titled "Wavy-patterned Ice Cream" and the smouldering unwitting proto house dynamics of "The Sea In My Palm" are just two of the many beautiful, timeless highlights.

Review: After a recent string of EPs and mini LPs, it's a pleasure to hear Biosphere tantalizing drones and ambient loops across a full-length. The Hilvarenbeek Recordings are a perfect encapsulation of the man's sound and vision, forever iterating his subtle sounds to paint rich and vivid portrays of the world and of his surroundings. The new album, one of his best to date, comes to life thanks to the amalgamation of field recordings, raw talent, and a pensive outlook on the world. A constant thirst for applying sound to vision, and vision to sound. Wonderful, as always.

Review: Having released on labels like 1080p or Common Edit, the talented Khotin feels like a natural addition to Canada's Pacific Rhythm imprint. But, we want to make it crystal clear that it is his music that has won him the spot on the label, and given him the chance to release his fourth studio album, another majestic collection of ambient experiments that spread out much further than the innocuous drones we're used to hearing nowadays. In fact, "New Tab" is our favourite electronic release of July 2018, much of that decision resting on the fact that this is enchanting and seductive from the first moments, never letting our minds stray too far. We like to call it 'rhythmic drone', where the looseness and abstract nature of synthesizers is propelled into motion by subtle percussive elements and enchanting vocal samples. Sick!

Review: Since the release of 2016's epic Gas retrospective, Box, the pioneering drone ambient producer (real name Wolfgang Voigt) has been surprisingly productive. Rausch is the lauded electronic musician's speedy follow-up to last year's Narkopop, which happened to be his first full-length for over 15 years. As you'd expect, Rausch is superb, with Voigt variously turning cinematic orchestral tracks into hybrid electro-acoustic epics. While some are beat-less and fluid, others are loopy, hypnotic and otherworldly, with the German building tension via subtle rhythm tracks that draw on techno and IDM. The results are near faultless, as Voight once again proves that he's a true master of his ambient art.

Review: The Schleissen series goes from strength to strength on Emotional Response, inviting another two esteemed luminaries in the field of ambience to indulge themselves on a long side of wax. Matthewdavid is a welcome addition to the series - the West Coast champion has been operating in all kinds of unusual realms for a long time - and he comes to this release with a new project entitled Mindflight. The resulting track "Sonos' loops and folds heavy washes of drone and feedback in a thoroughly stimulating bath of harmony. Firecracker affiliate HOLOVR meanwhile presents three different musings on the dynamics of vintage UK techno, all crooked beat formations and luscious synth strokes gazing into the future.

Review: Last year, Astral Industries dived into the back catalogue of obscure ambient explorer Heavenly Music Corporation (AKA film and TV composer Kim Cascone) to present the first vinyl release of superb 1995 album "Lunar Phase". Here, they offer the same treatment to 1993's "In A Garden of Eden", Cascone's first solo release. It, too, is something of an overlooked classic, albeit one whose inspirations were more pastoral and natural than the stargazing Lunar Phase. The set is notable not only for its Pete Namlook-esque use of dreamy, elongated chords, but also for the presence of hyponotic, Global Communication style melodic movements and Cascone's liberal use of sound effects and field recordings, which bring to mind the KLF's legendary ambient house album, "Chill Out".

Review: Glasgow based 12th Isle present some experimental cinema sonics by Vladimir Karpov. Electroacoustic research practice and shadowy wind instruments come together to form this unique interpretation of the mythical city of gold. Utilising rare, half forgotten Soviet era synthesisers, Karpov creates immersive soundscapes under the name XYR. The Formanta mini keytar and the Alisa 1377 lend Karpov's music strange, seldom heard atmospheres which the St. Petersburg native then combines with field recordings, toy percussion and wood flute to further build upon his utopian narratives. Part concept album, part nod to Popol Vuh, his attempt to channel the thematics of the ancient tale of the Muisca people through his modest home studio.

Review: Gothenburg's Alex Backman prefers to go by his birth year, 1991, and his output has been an important part of Opal Tapes' development over the last four years. The young producer prefers to deal in albums rather than singles, and his Skogen, Flickan Och Flaskan LP from 2012 is still very much one of our favourite from the OT camp. This new mini LP, No More Dreams, is a similar affair; taking the listener from the sparse yet mechanical sequence of Part 1, though to more desolate terrains as the album develops further, and ending up in a startling, hollow stratosphere of lonesome drones that give the term 'ambient' a new, more kinetic meaning. If you're looking for some drone with meaning, message and movement, then 1991 is the man for you.

Review: The latest transmission from Emotional Response's ever-essential Schleissen series takes a trip to the Fourth World with Jon Keliehor on the A side. There's no denying the influence of Jon Hassell on tracks like opener "Serpent In The Sky," but Keliehor channels those exotic notions into some truly captivating music that is all his own. From chiming tones to purposeful percussion, his sound is a rich and evocative one, beautifully recorded and artfully composed. On the other side, Lord Of The Isles indulges his ambient side to great effect with no less than seven vignettes of varying moods and energies, all played out through delicately handled synthesisers.

Review: Manni Dee might be best known for his upfront techno tackle on Perc Trax and the like, but he's also been quietly building up a separate identity as Nuances, and it's a world away from his dancefloor output. Following on from some choice album appearances on Bastakiya Tapes, it's up to Tabernacle to give the project its first outing on wax. While Tabernacle can have some range in their sound, this finds the label plunging wholeheartedly into ambient climes. Heavily processed textures and delicate chimes all feed into a truly evocative atmosphere loaded with significance. Ignore the familiar name behind the music - this is an album deserving attention all on its own.

Review: The Schleissen series stands as one of the finest facets of the ever expanding Emotional Response empire, initially kicking off in 2015 with releases from artists such as Harmonious Thelonious, Abul Mogard, Don't DJ and Sad City. Now the series has been fired up once again with the exotic tones of Tomaga, recently found lurking round the likes of Meakusma and Hands In The Dark. It's an exotic live band sound that touches on Fourth world exploration and motorik drive, but certainly with its own unique slant. The B side of this particular 12" is given over to Neil Tolliday, most commonly found rolling out tech house as Nail and many other names, but here indulging in gorgeous, layered minimal ambient pieces with looping melodic phrases to soothe rather than groove.

Review: Since the release of Jon Hassell's last album in 2009, there's been an upsurge in interest in the "Fourth World" style he pioneered alongside Brian Eno way back in 1980. It seems rather fitting, then, that the 81 year-old trumpeter turned experimentalist has returned to show the pretenders how it should be done. Listening To Pictures (Pentimento Volume 1) is every bit as alluring as you'd expect, with Hassell delivering thrilling new soundscapes that pull the Fourth World template (think combinations of American minimalism, ethnic styles from around the world, advanced electronics and manipulated trumpet sounds) in a variety of directions. It's in turns trippy, hypnotic, beautiful, poignant and otherworldly, with each ambient composition being accompanied by another where Hassell draws influence from contemporary IDM or drowsy experimental jazz.

Review: The seventh instalment in the Schleissen series welcomes another two intriguing and smartly selected propositions in the Emotional Response sublabel's continued exploration of the depth and breadth of ambient music. New York wild cards Georgia present five different musings on richly melodic electronica ranging from the delicate to the delightfully bonkers (one of the duo's strong points). The curveball addition of A Man Called Adam is a smart one - Sally Rodgers and Steve Jones surprise everyone with five engrossing and diverse "Sketches" that leap from scatty sample manipulation to spacious drone and back again.

Review: Icelandic neo-classical producer Johan Johansson could not be considered anything less than a pioneer and a driving force behind the contemporary ambient movement. Although his music is grounded in non-electronic instrumentation, he has allowed the analogue and digital world to gel more freely, giving inspiration to other like-mined artists. Thanks to releases for powerhouses such as Touch or 4AD, he has constantly grown and evolved, but it's this call-up to Germany's enedlessly respected Deutsche Grammophon which truly instils the sense that he is a master of his own art. Englaborn & Variations is a long and meaningful story, constructed with precision and vision, with the sounds of classical strings taking it from bleepy drone to an orchestral symphony of tonalities. An important record.

Review: Since leaving his hardcore metal drummer past behind, Olafur Arnalds has gone on to become one of the most lauded composers and producers of his generation, balancing experimental work that blends neo-classical movements with most rock and abstract electronics, with acclaimed work for film and television. Re:member is the Icelander's first album since working on the Broadchurch soundtrack and undeniably his most high profile release to date. It's also fiendishly cutting edge, utilizing specially created software to trigger new sequences (as well as randomized electronic feedback) on two pianos chained to his primary instrument. These elements, naturally mixed with strings, live percussion and the multi-instrumentalist's own considered electronics, combine to create a mesmerizing and thoroughly absorbing album.

Review: Premature Recordings looks like it will be a magnificent label going forwards, if the EPs keep on coming in like this. For their second outing, the imprint have grouped up New York's Terre Thaemlitz aka DJ Sprinkles with the UK's Robin Rimbaud, best known as Scanner. "Terre Loves Robin" is an oddball track, a glitch, molecular experiment sitting somewhere between ambient, noise and post-classical, while newcomer Ben Galyas' "Cloud Version" unleashes a much vaster, freer stratosphere of sounds that recall the best material on mythical drone and ambient labels like London's Touch. This is a special ordeal.